Joseph a



(No Model.)

J. A. POWERS.

ELECTRIC OUT-OUT.

No. 387,732. Patented Aug. 14, 1888.

INVENTOR Q W BY @M m ATTORNEYS.

N PETERS. Pholu-Lnhcgrap UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH A. POVERS, OF LANSINGBURG, NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC C UT-GUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,732, dated August 14, 1888.

Application filed June 10, 1588.

To all whom it 72mg concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. POWERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lansingburg, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Out-Outs, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming part of the same.

The object of this invention is to produce a cheap, durable, and practicable form of switch or cut-out for electric circuits carrying heavy currents. The device which I have devised is more particularly designed as a cut-out for are lamps or the like-that is to say, a device for completing a circuit around one or more lamps or other translating devices by the same movement or operation by which it interrupts the circuit through the said device, and conversely to interrupt said shunt-circuit when closing the circuit through the said translating devices. In its application to this purpose I have illustrated the invention.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of the device with the cover partially removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical central cross-section of the apparatus, and Fig. 3 is a detached view of the circuit-controlling mechanism.

A is a castiron box having projections or teats 13 B on opposite sides, which are preferably lined with a good insulator. Through them the circuit-wires are led and secured to the switch-terminals inside the box. A stud or pin, (J, is cast in one piece with the metal box and projects up from the center thereof. A wooden block, I), is secured to the bottom of the box by screws or otherwise, and through it extends the stud O, formed with an enlargement or shoulder, O.

E isa circularinsulating-block fitting down over the stud G, and secured in position thereon by a washer, b, and screw 0. The block E is in a cutaway portion of the block D.

The block E carries two conducting-plates,

F G, which occupy so much of the periphery as may be necessary for the result soughtthat is to say, when the switch is on or in a position to direct the current through the electrical devices with which it is connected the contactsprings H H and I I should be electrically connected through the plates F Serial No. 277,512. (No model.)

and G, respectively; but when the switch is off the springs H and I and H and I should be similarly connected by the plates G and F, respectively. The contact-springs form the terminals of the various circuits. They are ordinary contacts secured in the box A, and preferably to the block D. The springs or strips H I form the terminals of a. break in the main circuit, while strips H I are the terminals of the circuit including the devices to be connected with the circuit; hence when II is connected to H and I to I the current of the main circuit is directed through the translating device.

IVithin the box is a spring, L, the ends of which are secured to the sides ofthe box. This spring is of such a shape as to force the switchhandle across the center or fulcrum and to retain it in one of its terminal or extreme positions. For this purpose I give to the spring the shape of a typographical brace, and place it with its point M immediately over the fulcrum G.

N is a lever or handle secured to the block D and extending out through a slot in the side on the box A. N is a small roller or stud set in the extension or projecting end of the lever N and bearing against the spring L. NVhen the lever is shifted, the spring is compressed until the roller N passes the highest point M of the spring, when by the reaction of the spring the lever is shifted with a sudden and positive movement. Lugs S S are cast in the box A to limit the movement of the lever N. The spring is made of such strength that the application of more than ordinary power must be deliberately applied by the person operating the switch to prevent it from being thrown or shifted with suflicient rapidity to break the spark and prevent the formation of a destructive are.

A cover, P, with a glasscovered opening, Pt, therein, is placed over the box to protect the switch mechanism.

The main difficulty with the springswitehes in use is their complication and liability to get out of repair. In this form I have real= ized the greatest possible simplicity of structure without impairing at all its efficiency.

hat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination, with a box or can provided with a central stud, of insulatingsupports andcontact-terniinals secured thereto, an insulating-block carrying contact-plates adapted to connect the terminals in pairs and pivoted on the stud, a handle for turning said block, and a brace-shaped spring adapted to be compressed by the movement of the handle in either direction and to force it into its extreme positions, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the cast-iron box formed with a stud, O, of the insulating-block D and four terminal springs secured thereto, the block E, carrying contacts on its periphery and turning on the Stud 0, a handle for shifting said block, and a bow-spring secured to thew-all of the box, against which the extension or projecting end of the handle impinges, as and for the purpose set forth.

extending through a slot in the side of the box, and a bow-spring secured to the wall of the box and upon which the extended end of the handle impinges, as set forth.

JOSEPH A. POWERS.

Witnesses:

ERNEST HOPKINSON, FRANK B. MURPHY. 

